Title: Implicit Bias
1Implicit Bias Debiasing
- ABA SECTION OF LITIGATION
- With enormous respect for their work, and
gratitude for their generosity in letting us
incorporate and build from their materials, these
materials follow the approach of ABA CRIMINAL
JUSTICE SECTION ET AL., BUILDING COMMUNITY TRUST
IMPROVING CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION IN THE
CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM.
2Roadmap of the Presentation
- INTRODUCTIONS
- CONCLUSIONS
- IMPLICIT BIAS, including
- Implicit Association Test (IAT)
- Significance for leaders of legal profession and
system of justice - DEBIASING
3INTRODUCTIONS
- Facilitator/Faculty
- Objectives Norms
- Cultural group introductions, concept individual
4Facilitator Introduction
5Objectives
- Understand what implicit bias means and how it
may influence our decisions. - Understand that being implicitly biased does not
necessarily mean we act in explicitly biased
ways. - Learn to recognize some behaviors that may
suggest bias or differential treatment. - Learn some techniques that help debias
perceptions and improve interactions.
6Norms
- Confidentiality
- Breaks / or individual leave rejoin
- Phones off
- What else?
- Do we all agree?
7Introductory Exercise Cultural Groups
- What are your cultural groups?
- groups of people who consciously or
unconsciously share identifiable values, norms,
symbols, and some ways of living that are
repeated and transmitted from one generation to
another.
8Five Circles Exercise CULTURAL GROUPS
9IMPLICIT BIAS
10Schemas
- Mental shortcuts
- Organize categorize information
- Automatic
- Four-equal sided figure
- Square
11Professor Schema
- Know their subjects
- Prepare for and attend class
- Have office hours
- Give and grade assignments and exams
- Rely on schema to
- predict and explain profs actions
- fill in gaps if profs actions are ambiguous
- But may eventually change based on individual
performance
12Shorthand Schemas
- Helpful in some situations, but
- can lead to discriminatory behaviors, inequity,
and unfairness.
13Implicit Social Categories/Cognition
- FROM
- Parents/Families
- Friends/Peers
- School
- Media
- Direct or vicarious experiences
- Positive or negative associations
14Implicit Bias Defined
- EVERYONE HAS SCHEMA/IMPLICIT BIAS
- a preference for a group (positive or negative)
- often operating outside our awareness
- based on stereotypes and attitudes we hold
- that tend to develop early in life
- and tend to strengthen over time
Attitudes Evaluative feelings that are positive
or negative
Stereotypes Traits we associate with a category
15Stroop Test
16Implicit Association Test
- Computerized test, 2 keys
- Typically 2 social and 2 evaluative categories,
e.g., White/Black and pleasant/unpleasant - Closely associated categories, easier quicker
to sort together - So faster reaction times show implicit
connections.
17Implicit Association Test
- TAKE THE TEST
- Project Implicit, https//implicit.harvard.edu/imp
licit/ - ANSWER QUICKLY!
18Implicit Explicit Biases
- Some research shows IAT is a better predictor of
behavior than explicit self-reports - BUT STILL DOESNT NECESSARILY MEAN you act with
your implicit biases
- Implicit biases sometimes differ substantially
from stereotypes and attitudes we expressly
self-report.
19Systemic Concerns Implications
- Employment
- Litigators
- Prosecutorial discretion
- Juvenile justice
- Shooter bias
- Judges opinions
- Sentencing
- Jury selection
- Evidence
- THE PROFESSION is 90 WHITE
- IMPLICIT BIAS CAN AFFECT EVERY DECISION POINT IN
A CASE
20DEbiasing
- So what do we do about it?
21The good news is
- Motivation to be fair makes a difference.
22Debiasing
23Education
For example, take and consider IAT results. Be
aware and remain mindful intuition and implicit
responses are valuable, but some decisions
require a more explicit kind of thinking,
a stare not a blink.
24Exposure
Make contact with positive, diverse colleagues
and exemplars and practice taking the other
perspective all contribute to decreasing
implicitly biased response.
25Approach
26Approach Stare not Blink
- Use checklists
- Consider explicit pre-determined criteria
- Write instead of discussing off-the-cuff
27Approach Change Process
- Consider procedural or organizational changes.
- Insist on appropriate accountability.
2010 2011
Recruit ? ?
Retain ? ?
Promote ?
Messaging ?
Environment ?
MentorsExemplars ? ?
Etc.
28NOTICE YOUR MESSAGING ENVIRONMENT Small
messages can be affirming or inequitable.
29CONCLUSIONS
- Section of Litigation VIDEO, httpxxxx